Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson Meeting 050320
Apologies from Chris B., Chris W., Richard V. all in exotic locations. elsewhere. This review currently lacks any comments from one of these readers, because of an inexplicable decision to drop his mobile device into a swimming pool.
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial it becomes clear that, for a number of citizens, there is much more at stake than a man's guilt or innocence of the crime of which he is accused.
This novel attracted many very positive comments: ’fantastic’, ‘loved it’, ‘beautifully crafted’, ‘plot gripped me all the way through with the gradual revealing of layer after layer of people’s relationships and lives’, However, for two readers there were also some negative experiences : ‘clunky’, ‘too much detail’, ‘too many cedar trees!’. Guterson’s attention to seemingly extraneous or irrelevant detail, while distracting for a couple of readers, was seen by others to humanise the town, the characters within it, and their intertwined, mutually-dependent relationships.
Even the readers who were least impressed by the author’s writing style recognised that certain sections were extremely evocative. The description of strawberry farming, gill-net fishing, aspects of Japanese culture and Kendo fighting, the confusion and tragedy of war, and the internment camp, were universally appreciated. The courtroom scenes and the appearance of the people within it also brought into focus the characters of the protagonists as well as the spectators.
Themes explored included racial prejudice which, in this case, was selectively focused on differences between Japanese and ‘white’ cultures; the overwhelming forces of nature, war, and chance events pitted against the physical, emotional, mental frailty of humans and their struggle to do the ‘do the right thing’.
A good argument was made (special mention for Mark W) for ending the book with the penultimate chapter, which was emotionally dramatic, and would have left the story with an ambiguous conclusion, rather than being tidied-up.
Scores:
RV 9.5; SC 8.5; MT 6.5; JH 6.25; AA 8.5; MW 8.5; CB 8; WM 8.5; CW ?
